Review Post: Playing With Fire by Alison Bliss

Playing With Fire (Tangled in Texas #2)

By: Alison Bliss

Nothing ignites a fire like the perfect match…

Anna Weber is every inch the proper librarian–old-fashioned, conservatively dressed right down to her tightly clipped flaming red hair. She’s just moved to a small Texas town, and is determined to spend time with her friend before she has to disappear. Relationships aren’t easy for her. She knows too well what it means to be burned. And the last thing she ever wants to do is fall in love…

Especially not with a fireman who’s hot enough to set the entire state of Texas on fire.

Cowboy can’t resist the fiery little librarian, and he’s determined to make her his. Beneath that prim-and-proper exterior is a woman he very much wants to know–if she’d let him. She’ll test his patience. His control. Hell, his very sanity. And for the first time, Cowboy wonders if he’s found the one fire he can’t control…

*****5 Amazing and Phenomenal Stars*****

Let me start this review by saying that not only was this book utterly fabulous, I know for a fact that it’ll be one of my top reads of this year because it was that good. To say that I loved Playing With Fire is putting it very mildly, and the fantasticness of this book is nowhere near mild. This book was enrapturing, vibrant, and so full of the best amount of humor, feelings and emotions, and fierce connection that will have your heart feeling so much.

Playing With Fire had it all, and Alison Bliss’s phenomenal writing brought it all to life in the most real and captivating way. From the minute I started this book I couldn’t stop reading because I was so beyond invested in Cowboy and Anna’s story. I had to know what would happen next, I had to have more, and I just couldn’t stop reading, and that was all because of what Alison Bliss so authentically created and captured in this story.

Cowboy and Anna completely stole my heart right from the get go, and I don’t know if I’ll ever fully get it back from them. I heart those two something fierce, and throughout this book I fell more and more under their consuming and magical spell. There’s just something about them that’ll enamor you, and you’re going to love every second you spend with those two.

This book is the second book in Alison Bliss’s Tangled in Texas Series, though you don’t have to read that book to love this one. The first book in the series, Rule of Protection, was one of my favorite books I read last year, so I wasn’t surprised one bit to find that I loved Playing With Fire just as much, if not more. The world that Alison Bliss so authentically creates in this series is fun, lively, and full of the best characters around. I have to tell you that I truly never wanted this book to end, and I am already looking forward to the next time I get to fall in love with the wonderful and distinctive characters she so thoughtfully created in this book and series.

What was absolutely fabulous about Playing With Fire:

Save a horse, ride a Cowboy. Cowboy, Cowboy, Cowboy. How do I even being to describe how much I loved that man. I have wanted his story ever since the first book in this series, and I wasn’t disappointed one bit with what I got from him. He is charming, flirtatious, and definitely knows the way to a woman’s heart, but more than that he just an honest to goodness good guy. You know that through every page, and even while he’s trying to figure out Anna and what they could share while all the while being his boisterous self, he is a good guy with a heart that’ll definitely melt yours. Cowboy is who he is, he doesn’t apologize for that, and owns every moment of it too. He isn’t afraid to just be him, and that confidence emanating from him just made me love him even more fiercely than I already did.

Anna completely stole my heart. Anna was a character I loved and felt so fully for right from the start. This book is told from her perspective, which really allows you to get to know her so well, and the more you learn about her, the more you’ll feel for her, love her, and just connect to her. I loved Anna because I was able to relate to her a lot. She’s on the quieter side, but don’t let that make you think she’s a meek little thing, because that girl certainly has a fiery side that likes to come out to play. She is such a strong female character in her own way, and I had mad respect for her because she kept fighting for the life she wanted to lead after she’d been through more than any person deserves. Anna is kind, good natured, and will just warm your heart completely, and it’s impossible not to become captivated by everything you get with her in this book.

Fiery connection that continues to ignite. Anna and Cowboy certainly have a fiery connection that continues to spark and ignite throughout this book. That spark begins the moment these two are together, and it keeps sparking and sparking more and more with their continued interactions. Alison Bliss did an extraordinary job creating this build, and this push and pull between them, which invests you so much in everything that they’re sharing. That build and spark gets hotter and fierier the more you read, and you will be in awe of the fireworks when it finally explodes. Anna and Cowboy are seemingly opposite, but there’s this raw and immense connection they share that they can’t ignore, and you get to explore the explosiveness of that connection all throughout this fantastic book.

Mystery and suspense, oh my!One of my favorite aspects of this book had to be all of the mystery and suspense so thoughtfully weaved into the story. There’s definitely a few different mysteries weaving their way through these characters and story, and the more you read the more you find out. With each new puzzle piece you’ll want to read more, and all of that mystery pulls you in so immensely to every bit of what you’re reading, and I am telling you when it all comes together you will be shocked in the best possible way. You not only get the best amount of romance and feels in this book, you get the mystery and questions and suspense to thrill you every step of the way while reading, making everything you’re experience that much more incredible.

Getting the vulnerabilities of the characters. As you get to know Anna and Cowboy more, you also get to see so many different sides to them. They both have their strong and fierce sides, but as you delve deeper and as their feelings for one another strengthen, you get to see their vulnerabilities too. You see and understand their worries, their hesitations, what scares them a bit about giving into what they’re feeling. Seeing that vulnerable side to them both allows you to understand so much of where they’re coming from, while also allowing you completely understand the why behind the choices they make. You just get them. Their vulnerabilities are so fantastically brought out and explored from Alison Bliss’s writing, and I loved them both more because I got to see and feel that from them.

The feeling of family in the heart of Texas. Reading Playing With Fire kind of felt like going home. This world of this book and its fabulous characters welcomed me with open arms, and that warmed my heart and had me loving what I was reading all the more. I read this book with a huge smile on my face and my heart feeling so much, not just because of Anna and Cowboy and their magnificence, but also because of the other characters that make this series so exceptional. Jake, Emily, Hank, Floss, Junior, Bobbie Jo, Ox, Judd, and everyone else completely won me over once again, and I love all of them for the distinctive people they are. They each add something different to the story, and experiencing this book so fully with them is nothing short of incredible. They all felt like family to me, and that feeling of family warmed my heart a million times over and incorporated itself so perfectly into this book.

All the many vibrant moments you feel every ounce of. Playing With Fire is full of so many vibrant moments that you will feel so immensely. You’ll have moments that’ll make you laugh and just enjoy the life you’re living with these characters. Moments that’ll break your heart and having you want to reach in and make it all better for both Anna and Cowboy. You’ll also have moments that’ll take your breath away because of what these characters are sharing, and the jaw dropping moments that are revealed around every corner. Alison Bliss’s writing allows you to feel and fully experience every one of those moments making this book all the more memorable and enjoyable to experience.

Playing With Fire was an all-around exceptional book that gave me every single aspect that I loved. It had a story that kept me hooked through every word and twist and turn. It had characters that were dynamic, thoughtfully crafted, and easy to connect to and love. It also had the best amount of feeling and emotion, heat and chemistry, and moments that’ll have you laughing, crying, cheering, smiling, and just loving every bit of what you’re getting.

I could honestly go on for so many more words about how much I loved this book. I felt alive reading it, and I was so captivated by Anna and Cowboy and their vibrant and fiery journey together. They don’t have the easiest of stories, but as the saying goes, everything worth having is worth fighting for. Anna and Cowboy and what they share is worth fighting for.

These two characters are amazing and distinctive and so very strong, and yes they are serious opposites, but what they share together and what they could have if they gave into it all is truly mesmerizing in the most magnificent and all-feeling way.

Playing With Fire lets you go on an enrapturing journey with Anna and Cowboy as they try to figure out what in the world they’re feeling for one another. Their journey is full of twists and turns, and plenty of emotion, and I promise that you will be blown away with everything you get from them. You’ll love them, you’ll feel them, and you’ll bask in every moment you share so fully with them in this book.

It truly doesn’t get better than what you get in every outstanding word of Playing With Fire by Alison Bliss. Trust me. This book will have you loving every bit of what you’re reading, and experiencing, and you truly won’t want it to end. Ever.

Just a little tease….

Buy Playing With Fire today!!

And be sure to see where the series started in Rules of Protection!!

As the youngest of five girls, Alison Bliss has never turned down a challenge…or been called by the right name. Her writing career may have started out as a dare by one of her sisters, but Alison hasn’t put her pen down since.

She grew up on a small island off the Texas Gulf Coast, where most of her childhood vacations consisted of camping or hunting trips to the deer lease. Although she’ll always be a Texan at heart, Alison currently resides in the Midwest with her Iowa farm-boy husband and their two sons. With so much testosterone in her home, it’s no wonder she writes “girl books.”

She’s an animal lover, a closet video game enthusiast, and believes the best way to know if someone is your soul mate is by canoeing with them because if you both make it back alive, it’s obviously meant to be. Alison’s an avid romance reader who enjoys penning the type of books she loves to read most: fun, steamy love stories with heart, heat, laughter, and usually a cowboy or two. As she calls it, “Romance…with a sense of humor.